Tessa read the retreat instruction once before she spoke it.
She did not need to check the words. She needed the moment in which checking them prevented her fear from choosing a different rule. Eli’s hand remained against the plate. Kellan had the replacement wedge lined up but not yet loaded. Sera held the departure record where nobody could mistake it for an estimate made from memory.
“Eli. I’m invoking the retreat procedure.”
His eyes moved to her face. He understood her name, she thought. He had answered it twice. The phrase they had practiced still meant nothing familiar to him.
“Not yet,” he said.
“The decision is made. We release onto the supports and leave.”
“Someone’s still behind the turn.”
Sera looked at the receiving runner. He had not left after giving his count. She asked him to repeat the last person’s identifier, then checked the line she had underlined.
